“The group affirms its plan to transform itself into a broad energy company to meet the dual challenge of the energy transition: more energy, less emissions,” Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné says. (Source: Total SA)
Total SA unveiled plans on Feb. 9 to rebrand to “anchor its transformation” away from the oil business in an energy transition push, CEO Patrick Pouyanné said.
The French oil major last year joined many of its peers in setting targets to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In order to reach the net-zero ambitions, Total plans to reduce its dependence on oil and shift towards electricity and renewable energy.
Alongside plans to boost investment in its electricity and renewables segment in 2021, Total is aiming to reduce oil products to a third of its sales from over half now.
In a release on Feb. 9 announcing better-than-expected earnings in the fourth quarter, Total said it is proposing to change its name to TotalEnergies to reflect this targeted transformation.
“The group affirms its plan to transform itself into a broad energy company to meet the dual challenge of the energy transition: more energy, less emissions,” Pouyanné said in the release. “Thus, the group’s profile will be transformed over the 2020-30 decade.”
Pouyanné said growth of energy production at Total will be based on two pillars, LNG and Renewables & Electricity. Meanwhile, he expects oil products to fall from 55% to 30% of sales.
To “anchor this transformation,” he said the company will propose changing its name to TotalEnergies to its shareholders at the annual general meeting on May 28.
“They will hence have the opportunity to endorse this strategy and the underlying ambition to transition to carbon neutrality,” he added.
During the company earnings presentation, Pouyanné reaffirmed that Total is not abandoning oil and its E&P projects. Though, the company’s exploration budget will focus on low-cost development projects going forward.
Total’s earnings fell less sharply in the fourth quarter than in the previous three months. Adjusted net income was down 59% from the year-earlier period to $1.3 billion, which Reuters reported beats analysts’ expectations.
For 2020 as a whole, the company plunged to a $7.2 billion net loss, hit by around $10 billion of impairments as oil prices collapsed. Most of the charges, including some linked to write-downs on its Canadian oil sands assets, had already been recording in the first half of last year. On an adjusted basis, net income came in at $4.06 billion for the year.
“Overall a rock steady performance in a tough quarter and year,” analysts at Bernstein said in a note, adding that cash flow levels were strong.
Reuters contributed to this article.
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